When Aliki walked on stage at Britain’s Got Talent, she seemed like a pretty ordinary person on the outside! Blonde hair, shy but friendly and bubbly personality… Except she was actually quite an extraordinary person, with an amazing story to tell.
If anyone has struggled with traumatizing challenges, it’s Aliki.
When the 29-year-old was asked to tell the judges about herself, she opened up.
“I’ve been singing ever since I was a little baby. It’s been my dream, I can’t believe I’m here today.”
Then she mentioned that she’s always able to fight through different circumstances she’s gone through, and then naturally the judges wondered what circumstances she was referring to.
Turns out that not too long ago, she was diagnosed with a rare form of encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain.
I couldn’t speak, read, write, walk… My mom would do everything for me. She would feed me, bathe me…
The crowd began to cheer loudly for Aliki, making it hard to even finish her sentence.
“Aliki had just finished her first year of university,” Aliki’s mother shared. “Life was just starting for her and within the first two weeks of her being back from uni, her speech was starting to slur, she was getting confused about simple tasks… we started to realize something had gone terribly wrong.”
“Everything that she had known had been ripped away,” her mom added, beginning to cry. “The doctors couldn’t really say to us, ‘don’t worry she’ll be fine,’ because they really didn’t know if she would be.”
“It was heartbreaking. She didn’t want to believe that this was how things were going to be.”
“There was one night where it was just me and Aliki in the hospital room, so I just started to hum songs that Aliki had enjoyed,” her mom began to share. “And all of a sudden you just heard this wonderful, clear humming coming from Aliki. And she could just remember all of the tunes which was absolutely amazing. It was a sign.”
While it was a gradual recovery, Aliki’s mother believed that she was very strong and could fight through pretty much anything. Music has always been such an important thing to Aliki — she had an especially important bond with it while she was ill which makes her talent even more special.
After sharing her hardships and already winning the audience over with her vulnerability, Aliki began to sing the classic rock song “Wake Me Up” by Evanescence.
As soon as she hit her mouth, the audience was in awe. Her oprah-like way of singing, her range, and her spine-tingling vibrato were all reasons to fall head-over-heels in love with Aliki.
Each judge watched completely in shock.
At the end of her performance, every person in the audience including all of the judges stood to their feet and gave the talented singer a well-deserved standing ovation.
“I can’t imagine what your mum must be thinking,” Amanda started. “Because that’s practically an anthem for her. The words, ‘bring me back to life,’ ‘hear my voice,’ it was amazing. Congratulations.”
David chimed in next. “When you came on, I hoped your voice was as beautiful as you look and it was. It was incredible.”
“You’re inspiring so many people… I’m glad you came here today,” Alesha added with an enormous smile.
As Aliki began to tear up, the praise continued to roll in. Simon said, “well you just have a natural talent, Aliki. That lyric is so poignant and there’s something about your energy that is just incredible.”
If the judges’ major praise didn’t give it away already, Aliki was met with four yes’s and made it to the next round, rightfully so.
We’re rooting for the talented Aliki forever!
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